Sixth Star Entertainment & Marketing has joined as an institutional member. This Florida-based company specializes in providing cruise lines, resorts, corporate and special events with top-quality lecturers and entertainment. Destination speakers give a series of original presentations, such as illustrating the natural history or culture of the ports of call on a given cruise itinerary. Special interest speakers discuss their area of expertise in a fun, educating and entertaining manner. Speakers receive the luxuries of a fine voyage in a passenger stateroom with full passenger privileges in exchange for their services and a small administrative fee of $50 per day for each day of the cruise. The lecturer is also welcome to bring a guest to sail in the same cabin free of charge.

The link with Sixth Star arose because of our 2007 conference in Panama – numerous cruise ships traverse the Canal and offer on-shore tours of the rainforest and cultural attractions in Panama City. Fulbrighter Dr. Thom Eley works with Sixth Star. He has been a university professor, biologist, researcher, wildlife refuge manager, and cartographer, and has lectured extensively on a diverse array of topics involving islands, oceans, maritime tradition, and geography. Some of his recent research encompasses the physical geography and mapping of the Atlantic, the Manila galleon trade and its relation to winds, waters, coasts, and kingdoms, and the maritime history of the Mediterranean nations. His Fulbright was to conduct field research in Papua New Guinea. He has been on several cruises during the past three years, courtesy of his affiliation with Sixth Star.

If you would like to go on a cruise this winter as a guest lecturer, please contact Sixth Star – they would like to add additional Fulbrighters to their roster. They have worked with dozens of Fulbright scholars, and they have ongoing demand. As a service to our members, the Fulbright Academy invites you to complete the online application on their website at www.sixthstar.com or contact the Academy for additional information.

The Fulbright Academy’s 2007 Conference in Panama will include field trips, seminars and opportunities for Fulbright scholars, alumni and leaders in science and society to present their research and discuss their work. Opening speakers include Sir Harold Kroto (Nobel Prize in Chemistry) and Federico Humbert (Panama’s Ambassador to the United States).

The broad theme is the Millennium Development Goals – eight broad goals adopted by the United Nations designed to galvanize efforts in environmental sustainability, maternal health, disease control, poverty, and education. In addition, several groups of members are holding special workshops on the first day; topics include marine biology and criminology.

The Academy is still actively seeking (1) nominations for speakers, (2) abstracts for the poster session, and (3) program sponsors. Registration has opened, and we are offering a 35% discount to attendees from low- and middle-income countries. Depending upon the number of sponsors, additional discounts may be available. If you may attend, please send an email to ehoward@FulbrightAcademy.org so that we can plan your participation.

In conjunction with the conference, FAST is publishing a collection of essays - reflections on Fulbright exchanges between the United States and Latin America. We are currently seeking authors from all disciplines to write essays.

Additional information about the conference, the collection of essays, and sponsorship opportunities is available on our website.

This summer, FAST has been offering complimentary memberships to alumni from North Africa and the Middle East, with new members from Morocco, Jordan, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and Egypt.

We are pleased to announce that FAST is collaborating with the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education and R&D Maroc (a development agency) on a four-day workshop in January. The workshop will explore the creation of a digital library for the Mahgreb region of Africa. The 75-100 participants will examine aspects such as content development, management structures, networked infrastructure, research and educational applications, and training for digital managers and users. Information access and telecommunications will also be part of the discussions (e.g. facilitating access for local users in the region as well as access to materials held abroad, especially by institutions in Europe and North America).

The meeting on January 25-28, 2007 is open to Fulbright scholars as well as other experts. Financial partners include the US National Science Foundation, the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, UNESCO, and Thomson Scientific. Additional assistance is coming from the American Chamber of Commerce and from government agencies and ministries in the region. Fulbright alumni organizations for Palestine, Morocco, and elsewhere are also involved.

If you would like information about the workshop or want to recommend a Fulbrighter from North Africa or the Middle East to become a member of the Fulbright Academy, please contact ehoward@FulbrightAcademy.org.

The Fulbright Commission in Mexico has nominated five alumni/ae to participate in the Fulbright Academy’s 2007 Conference in Panama. They include experts in environmentally sustainable development, nutrition, health, and education. If you would like to nominate a speaker, please contact us at your earliest convenience.

The Fulbright Commission in Portugal (the Luso-American Educational Commission) is seeking an executive director who will be responsible for implementing and monitoring the programs and policies of the Fulbright program in Portugal. Responsibilities include supervision of a staff of five, program planning and management, and preparation of budget plans and reports. Applications are invited from Portuguese and American citizens and are due on September 29, 2007. Information is available at www.ccla.pt.

The Pan-American Health Organization will offer summer internships in international public health for students from Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a new cooperative agreement with the Fulbright Fellows Program. The first cohort of PAHO-Fulbright interns, from Brazil, Ecuador, Haiti, and Nicaragua, will work in the technical areas of HIV/AIDS, noncommunicable diseases, maternal and child health, and sustainable development and environmental health. The initiative is part of a larger effort by PAHO's Human Resources for Health unit to build a strong internship program in cooperation with other training institutions and educational organizations. (PAHO Today Newsletter, August 24, 2006).

UNESCO has a similar Fulbright Internship Program for US student grantees. The UNESCO program has provided up to six participants per year the opportunity to work at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Areas included cultural heritage preservation, communication & information, world heritage conservation, quality of life education and other education areas. The program is administered by IIE and applications are due in the spring.

The Fulbright Center in the Netherlands announces a new program for high school teachers in the United States and Netherlands who want to set up high school educational exchanges. The exchange project could be a project over the Internet, an exchange of teachers, or a student exchange. It can be a project in a certain subject: geography, history or arts or just about getting to know each others culture. Information is available from Marlies Eijsink, Program Coordinator of the High School Cooperation Program: m.eijsink@fulbright.nl

The Fulbright Academy has several study committees. These committees bring together Fulbrighters and other experts in a particular field. The outcomes may be meetings, reports, research collaborations, or other partnerships. The workshop on digital libraries (above) is one example. This brief report focuses on two meetings attended by the chair of the Joint Study Committee on Clinical Research Ethics – a joint project of the ABHLM and Fulbright Academy.

The Committee Chairman, Dr. Thomas Gionis, presented a paper at the 8th World Congress of Bioethics in Beijing. The Congress was held on August 6-9, 2006 with support from the Chinese Medical Association, the Chinese Society of Medical Ethics, and the International Association of Bioethics. It was held in conjunction with the 7th Asian Bioethics Conference, the 6th World Congress of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, and the 6th International Meeting of National Bioethics Advisory Bodies.

The presentation in Beijing described a database of human subject violations in the United States developed under the auspices of our Joint Study Committee. The research included an analysis of approximately 3,150 human research subject violations in the United States between 2000 and 2004.

Dr. Gionis also was an invited lecturer at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Conference on Bioethics Education, which met in Seoul, Korea on July 26-28, 2006. The presentation included research concerning teaching bioethics in a clinical setting: Informed Consent Bioethics Education in the Clinical Setting: Measuring the “Pour-Over” Effect from Research Ethics to Practice Ethics, Utilizing the Seminar-Dialogue Teaching Method. The UNESCO meeting was held at the Ewha Institute for Law & Bioethics at Ewha Womens University (a bioethics policy research center designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare). Organizers of the meeting included the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Office of Regional Adviser for Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO Bangkok Office, and the Ewha Institute.

Purple Loosestrife is a wetland plant that is invasive in many parts of the world. Academy member Beth Middleton (1990 Fulbright to India) is Secretary-General of the Society of Wetland Scientists, and she is seeking volunteers from around the world to help assess purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) in their region. Working at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Louisiana, she examines loosestrife in its native and in invasive habitats. Purple loosestrife is from Eurasia but invaded northern North America in the 1800s. Data collection involves visiting a wetland and counting/measuring these easily identified plants. You also will collect seeds for genetic analysis, so now is the perfect time to participate. It will take about 2 hours of your time – perfect for a class project or some weekend entertainment. Photos and information is available at http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/special/purplel/index.htm

Academy member Erik Anderson has obtained his first teaching position, as Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Erik studied marine biofluid dynamics on a Fulbright at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia in 1995, and then entered the joint MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Engineering Ph.D. program. He remains involved with WHOI as a Guest Investigator.

Academy member Jesus Martinez-Frias and his colleagues received a NASA Group Achievement Award for their work on a Mars analog research technology experiment. He is the head of the Planetary Geology Laboratory at the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid, and as co-chair of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, Mars Focus Group. With over 100 participants, the Mars Focus Group provides a forum within the NAI to identify scientific goals, objectives and investigations for the astrobiological exploration of Mars and to help define mission priorities and new technology developments needed to support Mars Astrobiology.

Dr. Rajasekharan Warrier has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in South India at Manipal, Karnataka. The MAHE is well known for its programs in medical, dental, pharmaceutical, allied health, management, communications and engineering education. Dr. Warrier serves as Professor and Vice-Chairman of Pediatrics and Director of the Centre for Cancer & Blood Disorders at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. He was a Fulbright visiting lecturer at MAHE from January to April 2006.

Professor M. Saleemuddin, has been appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, a centrally-funded university located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Professor Saleemuddin is a noted scientist in the field of biochemistry and was a Fulbright scholar in 1986 at Johns Hopkins University.

A list of Chile’s 50 most influential citizens, selected by and published in the influential weekly Qué Pasa magazine on August 25, included several Fulbright Scholars. They included Jorge Carey, a lawyer and a 1966 Fulbright Scholar at the New York University Law School, where he received a Master's Degree in Comparative Jurisprudence; Hernán Somerville, a 1965 Fulbrighter and the recently-elected president of Chile’s Confederation of Industry and Trade; and Arturo Fontaine Talavera, a 1977 Fulbrighter and director of the Centro de Estúdios Públicos (CEP), a prominent public policy research institute in Santiago, Chile. It also included Mr. Sebastián Piñera, a 1973 Fulbrighter who is one of the country’s richest businessmen, due in part to his involvement in the introduction of credit cards to Chile in the late 1970s. In the recent presidential election, he obtained 47% of the vote, losing to Michelle Bachelet.

Dr. Hugo Eduardo Beteta Méndez-Ruiz has been named director of the Secretariate of Planning and Programming (SEGEPLAN) for the Guatemalan government. SEGEPLAN is a program that aids in forming development policies in the government and evaluating their results. Beteta has been an important spokesman of the government dealing with issues of disaster assistance, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Stan last year. Now, Beteta is using his position to call attention to the social themes of poverty and human rights. Before his post at SEGEPLAN, he was vice rector of the Universidad Rafael Landívar and director of the Institute of Economic and Social Investigation. His Fulbright was at the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Fulbright Alumni Association in Guatemala and the US Embassy launched the new Public Policy Forum series on August 18. The keynote speaker for the event was Guillermo Castillo, Guatemala's Ambassador to the U.S, who told how his Fulbright year helped him become Minister of Economy and Ambassador to the U.S. This event was the first of six forums that will focus on a specific public-policy theme and provide leading thinkers and government leaders with an opportunity to discuss the issues that confront Guatemalans each day.

Several embassies hosted receptions for members of the Fulbright community. In Paraguay, U.S. Ambassador James Cason hosted a reception at the Ambassador's residence on July 27th. In Jamaica, over 100 students preparing to study in the United States and their parents attended a pre-departure information session organized by the public affairs office at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston at a leading Kingston hotel on July 12. In Nicaragua, thirty alumni from the 70s and 80s were presented with Fulbright pins and certificates at a reception highlighting the alumni community in Nicaragua. In France, U.S. Ambassador Stapleton hosted a breakfast in honor of seven French Fulbright alumni with expertise and interest in foreign policy and economic matters; the breakfast allowed the Ambassador to gain a better understanding of the impact that the Fulbright program has had on its alumni.

The Fulbright Academy is a non-profit membership-based organization that serves scientists, executives, and scholars worldwide. Our sponsors and supporters include institutional and individual members, Fulbright alumni groups and commissions, corporations/businesses, and foundations.

After three years of operation, the Fulbright Academy has a growing membership base. By joining the Academy, you will be supporting our work - our conferences, the study committees, and our Fulbright Forums. You will receive invitations to special events, and we also help members link up with other Fulbrighters in their respective fields. Individual memberships start at $60, with reduced rates available for students, retired individuals and those living in low- and middle-income countries.

Institutions in the US and elsewhere are collaborating with the Academy on several projects and programs. These collaborations typically are funded by a grant or contract from a foundation or agency. The first step is in this process typically is joining as an institutional member. Information on institutional memberships is available on our website.

This newsletter contains original material as well as information gleaned from internet-based resources. The Fulbright Academy’s email bulletin of August 30 mentioned the 50th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Iceland, which will be on February 23, 2007. The announcement may have given the impression that the Fulbright Academy was involved in this event. FAST is not involved. The Fulbright Academy is not affiliated with the US State Department, the US Fulbright Association or the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. We are independently funded, and so your support is very important to us.

As a fellow grantee of the Fulbright program (Germany '89), I look forward to having you as a member and participant.

Sincerely,

Mr. Eric S. Howard, Executive Director